Various types of weight machines have existed in the prior art in an attempt to provide development for chest and bust areas with a minimal amount of contribution by other muscles.
Perhaps the most primitive and least exclusive devices of this type are barbells in which the exerciser is to perform a press-type of exercise.
The state of the art thereafter has developed to define a machine in which the exerciser is on an inclined back support having an orthogonally disposed seat and provided on opposed sides of one's shoulder, mechanisms substantially below or behind the plane defined by the back support i.e. a pair of rods operatively connected to the weight mechanism through a drive. This machine, while providing a marked improvement over the existing prior art at the time, required the use of foot pedals which would cause the two bars to come up beyond the plane of the back support so that they could be grasped for further exercising, after which the leg assist would be discontinued. Clearly, the benefits associated with a device of this type included allowing the handle members that serve to perform a portion of the exercise to extend back behind the user so that during a repitition of the exercise, the chest and bust muscles could be stretched beyond what would be possible with a barbell. However, since the weight take-up mechanism is located at the bottom portion of the exercise bars, the user benefits from the length of the exercise bar arms, and the torque associated with the length of the moment arm multiplies the exerciser's actual force expended.